Gang activity and related violence threaten public order in a diverse range of communities in the United States today. Contemporary views of the problem have been formed against the background of a significant adverse secular trend in gang activity during the last four decades. In particular, the rapid growth of gang membership, geographical dispersion, and criminal involvement during the violent crime epidemic -- associated with the emergence of the crack cocaine market during the mid-1980s to the early 1990s -- have intensified current concerns. The experience of those years continues to mark both patterns of gang activity and public policy responses toward them. This book provides background information on the issue of youth gangs, including data on gangs and gang crime. It reviews existing anti-gang initiatives at the federal, state, and local levels, and describes some of the legislation proposed to address the gang problem, as well as some of the issues raised by those bills.

The Second Edition of Preventing and Reducing Juvenile Delinquency: A Comprehensive Framework aims to inform students about the latest research and the most promising and effective programs and provides a wealth of information for understanding, preventing and controlling juvenile delinquency. Key Features Examines the history of current juvenile justice system policies and practices, including the juvenile violence "epidemic" Discusses key myths about juvenile violence and the ability of the juvenile justice system to handle modern-day juvenile delinquents Applies developmental theories of juvenile delinquency to understanding how juvenile offender careers evolve Reviews effective prevention and rehabilitation programs and what does not work Presents a comprehensive framework for building a continuum of effective programs

Intended Audience: This is an ideal supplementary text for undergraduate and graduate courses in juvenile delinquency, juvenile justice, and violent offender intervention courses. It is also essential reading for juvenile justice and social services research and development specialists.

This book presents a detailed and comprehensive critical analysis of evidence on adolescent research from leading international scholars. It explores the prevalence, nature, and trend of juvenile delinquency among Koreans as well as various western countries. It provides information on the socio-cultural contexts related to juvenile delinquency, aggression and violent behaviour among adolescents, substance abuse and delinquency, intra-familial child abuse in South Korea and other western countries. The authors also suggest these problems as a major social issue and present these issues in Korea and its cross-cultural comparison. This book is an ideal textbook for those who wish to explore the nature, trend, prevalence of juvenile delinquency and its cross-cultural comparison.

The first in-depth study of the political, social, and cultural history of juvenile delinquency in modern Japan, "Bad Youth" treats the policing of urban youth as a crucial site for the development of new state structures and new forms of social power. Focusing on the years of rapid industrialization and imperialist expansion (1895 to 1945), David R. Ambaras challenges widely held conceptions of a Japan that did not, until recently, experience delinquency and related youth problems. He vividly reconstructs numerous individual life stories in the worlds of home, school, work, and the streets, and he relates the changes that took place during this time of social transformation to the broader processes of capitalist development, nation-state formation, and imperialism.

The image of the violent, anti-social gangster is part of the American landscape, often romanticised and glamorised by popular culture. Gang activity in the United States has been traced to the early 19th century when youth gangs emerged from some immigrant populations. Now, as then, gangs provide identity and social relationships for some young people who feel marginalised by the dominant social, economic and cultural environments in which they live. Gangs, however, are not simply a "street family" to some of the nation's disenfranchised. As distinguished by the U.S. Department of Justice, "a group must be involved in a pattern of criminal acts to be considered a youth gang." Between 1980 and 1996, the U.S. experienced significant growth in youth gangs, when the number of cities and jurisdictions that reported gang problems rose from 2863 to approximately 4,800 From 1996 through 1998 the growth seemed to slow down, but according to the 1999 National Youth Gang Survey, the number of gang members is again on the rise.

Juvenile justice policies have historically been built on a foundation of myths and misconceptions. Fear of young, drug-addled superpredators, concerns about immigrants and gangs, claims of gender biases, and race hostilities have influenced the public's views and, consequently, the evolution of juvenile justice. These myths have repeatedly confused the process of rational policy development for the juvenile justice system. Juvenile Justice: Redeeming Our Children debunks myths about juvenile justice in order to achieve an ideal system that would protect vulnerable children and help build safer communities. Author Barry Krisberg assembles broad and up-to-date research, statistical data, and theories on the U.S. juvenile justice system to encourage effective responses to youth crime. This text gives a historical context to the ongoing quest for the juvenile justice ideal and examines how the current system of laws, policies, and practices came into place. Juvenile Justice reviews the best research-based knowledge on what works and what does not work in the current system. The book also examines failed juvenile justice policies and applies high standards of scientific evidence to seek new resolutions. This text helps students embrace the value of redemptive justice and serves as a springboard for the current generation to implement sounder social policies. Juvenile Justice is an ideal textbook for undergraduate and graduate students studying juvenile justice in Criminology, Criminal Justice, and Sociology. The book is also an excellent supplemental text for juvenile delinquency courses. About the Author Barry Krisberg, PhD has been President of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) since 1983. Dr. Krisberg received both his master's degree in Criminology and his doctorate in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Hawaii and has held previous faculty positions at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Minnesota. Dr. Krisberg was appointed by the legislature to serve on the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Inmate Population Management. He has several books and articles to his credit, is known nationally for his research and expertise on juvenile justice issues, and is called upon as a resource for professionals and the media.

Internationally, there is now an acceptance of the need to develop new strategies in criminal justice which reflect restorative justice principles. At the same time, theory, research and practice in restorative justice is making rapid advances. This book provides an up to date and critical account of recent developments. It describes the practice of restorative justice with respect to young offenders in a number of jurisdictions - Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States and various continental European countries. Research findings on the three most common formats - conferencing, victims offender education and circles - are presented. Critical issues for the future development of restorative justice are identified. Two main themes run through the collection - the potential of restorative processes to transform criminal justice processes and the potential for aboriginal or indigenous communities to impact on conventional processes. Contributors include active researchers and leading theorists from around the world. '.. provides an up-to-date and critical account of recent developments in the rapidly advancing field of restorative justice..a thought provoking collection of papers from researchers and leading theorists from around the world. It will be of interest to all those who work in the youth justice field.' Childright '...[an] exceptional set of papers...their analyses are excellent.' Howard Journal of Criminal Justice

Prevention and Control of Juvenile Delinquency offers complete description and scholarly analysis of major delinquency prevention and control programs. It links what has been done in the past with what should be done in the future. It therefore concludes with clear recommendations for future prevention and control efforts.

This is the definitive examination of adolescent violence in the United States as both a social phenomenon and a policy problem. Franklin Zimring, one of America's most esteemed scholars of law and crime, scrutinized criminal statistics and demographic trends. The result is a thorough debunking of Congressional predictions of "a coming storm of juvenile violence" and the half-baked policy proposals that accompany such warnings. The book sets forth comprehensive and dispassionate analyses of three key areas of youth violence policy: adolescent firearms possession and use, standards for transfer from juvenile to criminal court jurisdiction, and legal sanctions for adolescents who kill. Throughout American Youth Violence, the core issues of youth violence in the 1990s are examined with an unprecedented degree of analytic rigour. Zimring also offers an appropriate set of responses to youth violence that are consistent with a positive future for the juvenile court and for American youth.

The public perception is that juvenile crime is out-of- hand and that no one can do anything about it. Research, however, shows that a mere 8% of juvenile offenders arrested and sent to juvenile court commit more than half of all repeat juvenile crimes, including violence. And, something is being done about it! The surprising fact is that this "8%" can be picked out at the time of their first arrest. This book represents seven years of research on 6,400 young people having their first brush with the law in Orange County, California. It provides an exemplary state-supported model now used in six other California counties to curb the rise in the arrest of kids.

A practical, commonsense guide, this book focuses on long-term solutions to the problem of serious repeat juvenile crime and offers a proven pathway for improvement. The 8% Solution informs students, policy makers, criminal justice professionals, juvenile courts, probation departments, and parents of how to mount a successful response. Written in narrative style with a liberal use of anecdotal incidents, this is an easy-to-read description of the characteristics of kids who repeatedly get in trouble with the law and more cost-effective ways to correct the problem.

Detailed and comprehensive, Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders presents authoritative discussions by a select group of leading scholars on issues surrounding serious and violent juvenile offenders. This population is responsible for a disproportionate percentage of all crime and poses the greatest challenge to juvenile justice policymakers. Under the skillful editorship of Rolf Loeber and David P. Farrington, this unique volume integrates knowledge about risk and protective factors with information about intervention and prevention programs so that conclusions from each area can inform the other. Current literature on these two areas does not, for the most part, apply directly to serious and violent juvenile offenders. This volume contends that serious and violent juvenile offenders tend to start displaying behavior problems and delinquency early in life, warranting early intervention. It is the contributors? thesis that prevention is never too early. They also maintain, however, that interventions for serious and violent juvenile offenders can never be too late in that effective interventions exist for known serious and violent juvenile offenders.

Augmented by charts, tables, graphs, figures, and an extensive bibliography, Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders is an excellent reference work and a must read for policy and lawmakers, judges, attorneys, law enforcement personnel, education administrators, researchers, academics, social workers, sociologists, as well as graduate students and interns.

Written by a leading scholar of juvenile justice, this book explores the social and legal changes that have transformed the juvenile court in the last three decades from a nominally rehabilitative welfare agency into a scaled-down criminal court for young offenders. It explores the complex relationship between race and youth crime to explain both the Supreme Court decision to provide delinquents with procedural justice and the more recent political impetus to "get tough" on young offenders. This provocative book will be necessary reading for criminal and juvenile justice scholars, sociologists, legislators, and juvenile justice personnel.

The experiences of minority youths in the juvenile justice system are strikingly different from those of their white counterparts. In response to the overrepresentation of minority youths in confinement, Congress amended the Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Act to require states to investigate the imbalance and develop action plans to fix problem situations. In this carefully edited volume, the contributors note the extent and sources of disparate treatment of youths within juvenile justice and identify the need to respond to this bias. Findings from research and provocative analysis of topics such as racial difference in encounters with police, in urban juvenile court, in confinement and punishment, and among groups within juvenile justice awaken the reader to the variety of racial bias in the system. The authors also offer creative and practical policy recommendations and strategies for overcoming racial inequity in the juvenile justice process. Practitioners and researchers in juvenile justice, criminology, corrections, policing, sociology, and ethnic studies will find the cross-section of information in the volume enlightening. The material presented also ideally fits supplementary text needs for coursework dealing with race and crime. "This volume delivers a full and complete view of one of the most critical issues in juvenile justice. Rousing and informative, the book comes highly recommended." --Barry Krisberg, Ph.D., President, National Council on Crime and Delinquency, San Francisco

Juvenile crime makes headlines. It is the stock-in-trade of politicians and pundits. But young people are also the victims of crime. They too have demands to make of the police. Drawing upon survey and interview research with 11 to 15 year-olds in Edinburgh, this book examines how crime impacts upon young people's everyday lives. It reveals that young people experience far more serious problems as victims and witnesses of crime, than they cause as offenders. It shows that they report little of their experiences of crime to the police, and are left to find their own ways of managing risk, such as telling cautionary tales about dangerous people and places. The study concludes by examining young people's relations with the police, suggesting they are over-controlled as suspects and under-protected as victims.

Published in cooperation with the University of Michigan School of Social Work As a counselor or therapist, wouldn't it be useful to have a resource that clearly presents effective how-to guidelines for rehabilitating juvenile offenders? In Group Counseling with Juvenile Delinquents, Ferrara explores all aspects of counseling this special population, from the first group encounter through evaluating the effectiveness of the group. He examines various components of the group encounter including establishing a safe, helpful environment, replacing delinquent behaviors with prosocial ones, and responding to the specific needs of each juvenile delinquent. Included in this valuable volume are key points for conducting group sessions, a workbook and scenarios to use directly with group members, instructions for training staff, and a posttest for evaluating the effectiveness of the groups. "There is an extensive and useful discussion of intervention in terms of both traditional, guided group interactions and the more contemporary cognitive behavioral strategies. . . . Much effort has been exerted by Ferrara to insure that the program as presented has a strong empirical foundation. To this end, data and caveates are included as appropriate. As Ferrara wisely notes in his Preface, his program is likely to be most effective with those youths who would not have spontaneously self-corrected but are not seriously disturbed, chronic offenders. Among the various components of the group encounter program, the inclusion of a post-test for evaluating effectiveness is particularly encouraging." --Child & Family Behavior Therapy "It is obvious the author is experienced in group counseling of juvenile delinquents, in developing group counseling programs in juvenile correction facilities, and grounded in theories relevant to treating offenders. The book is succinctly and clearly written." -Social Work with Groups

Generally naive about their world, children are thought to be nearly incapable of serious wrongdoing and are rarely suspects in violent crimes. Yet, from the 1960s to the mid-90s, the U.S. saw several waves of juvenile murders that caused widespread public concern. The phenomenon created longstanding debates about the sources or causes of a child killer's mindset. Some blame external triggers like video games, rock music or pornography, while others argue the causes are deeper issues, such as an underdeveloped brain experiencing abuse and neglect. The quest to uncover the causes of these crimes is ongoing, and how the American justice system should handle these young killers remains a controversy. This book assesses ten murder cases in modern American criminal history, examining the minds of the children who perpetrated them. Chapters compile decades of research on the psychology of child murderers in hopes of creating a more coherent understanding of why kids kill.

Tackling juvenile offending has become a key part of crime reduction strategies. The articles selected for this volume examine juvenile offending from various critical perspectives and represent the work of the most influential international figures in the field. The issues addressed include: the different needs and perspectives of youth offenders; whether offenders should be treated differently from others because of their age; recommendations of policy changes; identification of risk factors; issues surrounding the sentencing of juvenile offenders; and the relevance of restorative justice.

Thought-provoking, pertinent and engaging, this book provides an overview of every aspect of carrying out research with children. It is unique in its particular focus on vulnerable groups of children such as those with mental-health problems, physical health problems and learning disabilities, along with young offenders and looked after children.

The book helpfully addresses each stage of the research process:

-Part I introduces the main elements of doing research with children, including seeking ethical approval for sensitive research topics.

-Part II guides the reader through the initial stages of the research project including recruitment issues and communicating with gatekeepers.

-Part III outlines the data collection, data analysis, writing up and dissemination stages of research and covers both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Filled with practical advice and useful activities for each chapter, this book is an essential resource for any student, academic or professional working with, or doing research with, children.

"Driving with Care: Education and Treatment of the Underage Impaired Driving Offender "is a supplementary guide for the Driving with Care Series. It deals specifically with Adolescent/young adult impaired driving, which presents a host of special challenges and special treatment issues. Underage impaired driving represents 15% of the DUI arrests nationwide, which translates into roughly 150,000 individuals a year. Underage drivers present a special challenge for education and treatment as their motivation to drink and drive is often quite different from the adult offender. Thus, the authors have compiled a rich set of educational protocols and treatment strategies that can supplement the various levels of treatment provided in all three Driving with Care workbooks. Section I provides a theoretical foundation for understanding underage impaired driving, including the scope, incidence, and prevalence of the problem and defines the causal and risk factors associated with underage drinking and driving. It also defines and covers legal and regulatory interventions that have been effective for treatment and provides guidelines that enhance the treatment and rehabilitation of this group. Section II provides specific guidelines and enhancements for the delivery of DWC for underage drivers, including activities, handouts, and various assessment tools.

SAGE offers treatment and training programs for mental health providers that you can easily incorporate into your existing programs. Visit www.sagepub.com/satreatments to learn more about these treatment and training programs.

How is the modern world shaping young people and youth crime? What impact is this having on the latest policies and practice? Are current youth justice services working? With contributions from leading researchers in the field, this book offers an insightful, scholarly and critical analysis of such key issues. Youth Offending and Youth Justice engages constructively with current policy and practice debates, tackling issues such as the criminalisation and penalisation of youth, sentencer decision-making, the incarceration of young people and the role of public opinion. It also features an applied focus on professional practice. Drawing on a wide range of high-quality research, this book will enrich the work of practitioners, managers, policy-makers, students and academics in social work, youth work, criminal justice and youth justice in the UK and beyond.

Children Who Commit Acts of Serious Interpersonal Violence explores risk management and successful intervention for children in public care who have committed, or are at risk of committing, acts of serious violence. The contributors identify different subgroups of children who are difficult to place, including those who sexually offend and those who murder, and outline the key characteristics and patterns of need they display. They provide an overview of the risk factors leading to extremely violent behaviour and discuss the complexities of diagnosis and definition from a multidisciplinary perspective. The book proposes strategies for effectively managing these children, drawing evidence from international practice and research projects. It highlights the limitations of current structures and makes recommendations for future development. Children Who Commit Acts of Serious Interpersonal Violence will be a key reference for those individuals and organisations working with potentially dangerous children, and will encourage the reader to think creatively about good practice.

In the twenty-first-century world of juvenile justice policy and practice, nearly everyone agrees that one of the most pressing issues facing the nation's juvenile courts is their proper response to delinquent youths with mental disorders. Recent research indicates that about two-thirds of adolescent offenders in juvenile justice facilities meet the criteria for one or more mental disorders. What are the obligations of our juvenile justice system, then, as the caretaker for delinquent youth with such disabilities? How do issues of adolescent development create special challenges in determining the court's proper response to delinquents with special mental health needs? Thomas Grisso considers these questions while offering new information to assist the juvenile justice system in its responses to the needs of our children.
"Double Jeopardy" considers the newest data on the nature of youths' mental disorders--their relationships to delinquency, the values and limits of methods to treat them, and the common patterns of adolescent offending. That information is used to chart a rational course for fulfilling the juvenile justice system's duty--as a custodian of children in need of health care, as a legal system promoting fairness in youth adjudication, and as a protector of public safety--to respond to delinquent youths' mental disorders. Moreover, "Double Jeopardy" provides a scientific yet practical foundation for lawmakers, judges, attorneys, and mental health care professionals, as well as researchers who must fill the knowledge gaps that limit the juvenile justice system's abilities to meet youths' mental health needs.

'In this pathbreaking volume Muncie and Goldson bring together leading authors to examine and compare youth justice systems around the world. Comparative Youth Justice will be of interest to all criminologists concerned with comparative penal policy and will be essential to all scholars of youth justice' - Professor Tim Newburn, London School of Economics and Political Science and President of the British Society of Criminology 'Comparative Youth Justice is what we need in an era of hardening social policies and irresponsible political demagoguery: thoughtful critiques, comparative analysis, and a commitment to the rights of youth. John Muncie and Barry Goldson have done a fine job of bringing together a group of commentators who know the inner workings of juvenile justice and what it will take to change the current law and order model. A book that is required reading for practitioners, professors, policy makers, researchers, and students concerned about the bankrupt state of juvenile justice and willing to consider new ideas and directions' - Tony Platt, California State University, Sacramento With contributions from leading commentators from 13 different countries, this carefully integrated edited collection comprises the most authoritive comparative analysis of international youth justice currently available. However, Comparative Youth Justice is not simply an attempt to document national similarities and differences, but looks critically at how global trends are translated at the local level. This book also examines how youth justice is implemented in practice with a view to promoting change as well as reflection. Each chapter addresses key critical issues: - the degree of compliance with international law; - the extent of repenalistion; - adulteration; - tolerance; - the impact of experiments in restoration and risk management. This book is designed as a companion volume to Youth Crime and Justice, edited by Barry Goldson and John Muncie, published simultaneously by SAGE Publications. 'This is a brilliant set of edited volumes that will be an indispensable and timely source of information and analysis for anyone with an interest in issues of youth justice and comparative criminology.' David A. Green, Oxford University

This interesting and accessible volume examines several immigrant populations and explores why waves of youthful crime emerge in some of those populations but not in others. Author Tony Waters uses data from 100 years of Unites States immigration records (particularly in California) to examine immigrant groups such as Laotians, Koreans, and Mexicans in the late 20th century, as well as Mexicans and Molokan Russians in the early 20th century.

Crime and Immigrant Youth is a unique study of migration as a process that sometimes leads to youthful crime beyond the norms of either the home or host culture. Water concludes that when an immigrant group has a large population of young males (and not all immigrant groups do), it creates the potential for patterned misunderstandings between immigrant parents and their children. This situation, in turn, provides conditions for a predictable outbreak of crime within deviant subcultures (i.e. gangs), as shown in numerous case examples. Waters also explains how youthful immigrant crime often erupts because of the structural relationships between immigrant groups and the host community rather than the cultural differences imported from abroad.

That black young people have been subject to unequal treatment in the youth justice system has been the belief of some individuals and groups, reinforced, at best, by anecdotal evidence. Negative Images: A Simple Matter of Black and White? provides not only evidential weight to uphold this view but also provides some insights into the processes by which it comes about. Findings of a case study detailed in the book demonstrate how in one youth court black youths were over-represented amongst those receiving high-tariff sentencing and that this over-representation could not be explained by seriousness or persistence of offending. Whilst responsibility for differential sentencing has often been laid at the door of Magistrates, this study reveals how social work court report practice may be contributing to the situation.